The text outlines a concept of risk and protective factors along the path of life, which are shown to either contribute or protect individuals and communities from Juvenile Offending.

The book is a must for those wanting to consider proven and efficient alterntives to the 'get tough approach', but don't fear it isn't the soft social worker approach either. It's based on the theory of Developemental Crime Prevention and looks at a combination of sanctions, interventions and community actions which can reduce juvenile and later adult offending.

A must for those with an interst in Crime Prevention !

A straightforward, blow-by-blow account of the Allied effort to eject Axis forces from North Africa with discussion of both the Montgomery-led British drive against Rommel out of Egypt and the Eisenhower-led drive with Allied forces from the west. The focus is primarily on the "what," "when" and "where" from a military (primarily land forces) perspective. Rolf wastes no time getting readers into the action, beginning with the Allied landings in Operation Torch. I was hoping to see more details on the planning and preparation of this operation, to include an analysis of the strategic situation late in 1942 and a better look at forces/resources/equipment & training of both sides, but Rolf apparently considered more details here to be outside the scope of his work.

Another complaint is that the narrative is frankly rather dry, although the use of diary/memoir/letter/personal interview excerpts from the highest ranks to the lowest keeps the book from sinking into a "this happened, and then this happened, and then this happened..." recitation. Still, the book is decidedly lacking in "color commentary". For example, there is not much discussion of the individual backgrounds and personalities beyond that immediately applicable to the campaign--e.g., a more intimate look at how and why Eisenhower, a man with no actual combat experience, was picked to lead Torch, would have been interesting.

Obviously, Rolf intended to maintain a more narrow focus. The book does highlight the difficulties in early Anglo-American cooperation, terrain, and logistics, and helps show why North Africa was a necessary proving ground (for the Allies in general, and the Americans in particular) before a successful invasion of the continent could be made good. An outstanding ground forces order of battle is provide for both Allies and Axis in an appendix. Maps are for the most part good, although there could have been more, especially detailing operations at the operational/tactical level described in the first third of the book.

I can't help thinking that Mr. Rolf missed a chance to write the first real "definitive" account of this campaign in World War II. There is precious little on the strategic debate that led the Allies to adopt a North African campaign or the political and strategic considerations that drove Churchill to push it and Roosevelt to acquiese. There could have been a lot more about the political turmoils and conflicting loyalties between Free French and Vichy that featured so prominently at the outset. Finally, from my own perspective and biases, the writing style is clearly meant to inform more than entertain. Certainly, the former is most important in writing history--which is why this IS a worthwhile book, even if as nothing more than a reference--but scores of writers have shown that objective historical accuracy AND entertainment value are not incompatible. I was not expecting this author to be on the McCullough/Ambrose/Tuchman/etc. plane, but for a subject that I have a lot of interest in, I found reading Mr. Rolf's account to be more of a chore than I would have expected.